Four Wands to Bind Us
by ILiveADaydream
Summary: Four new Hogwarts students meet in Olivander's Wand Shoppe and discover that nothing is as it seems. AU, AH, and probably quite a bit of OOCness, and a few OC's. Dumbledore, Ron and Ginny Bashing. Chapters 1-3 edited 7/14/11 Chapter 7 edited 8/8/11
1. And So It Begins

_Disclaimer: Let us make it simple. If I owned Harry Potter, Ron, Ginny and Dumbledore would have never been important to Harry and Hermione would have been the center of his world. As the world's greatest slut is with Harry and Hermione, sweet, sweet Hermione is with an ugly, hideous, lump of foul deformity, cacafuego, obsequious, childish, sycophantic, immature, idiot, better known as Ron, I don't think I own it._

Enjoy, and please leave a review with your opinion and anything that doesn't make sense, or clashes with anything you see elsewhere, this chapter has been written five or six times over about as many years, and well, I doubt it's decency. I published it last year to see what response I would get and amazingly some people actually liked it. So I decided to revise, again, and see if I could fix some of those pesky inconsistencies, and other little things that keep bugging me.

I would also like to thank kanakmp, jabarber69, Tam71, and Redbird27 for their encouraging reviews on the first posted version of this chapter. Topdog19, Chigatana and Amconsequat deserve separate mention and much thanks for their comments on what needed to be fixed, so hopefully this is somewhat improved.

Edited 7/13/11

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**Lilith's Point of View**

Lilith Tahirah Nirnevar was not at all happy. Over the last quarter of an hour, a subtle headache had formed at the back of her neck as box upon box clattered. Her cousin, Iliana, was already tapping her foot in disgust; after all, it didn't take **normal** people more than a few wands to find theirs, and she had gone through at least two dozen boxes and blown many of Mr. Ollivander's decorations to pieces because of incompatible wands. Suddenly, a small bell rang as a boy around her age pushed the door to Ollivander's wand shop open.

The boy was about 150 centimeters (4'11) tall with the messiest black hair she had ever seen and bright emerald eyes coming out of a pale face. His clothes were muggle, dark blue jeans and a green polo shirt with scuffled trainers, but both the shirt and jeans were baggy and would have been a better fit on a small whale. The jeans were held up by a piece of braided rope tied in a knot and the ends of the jeans were ragged as if they had been cut to be shorter. The shirt was tucked into the pants and the sleeves went to the boy's elbows.

Outside a -well, she supposed she could call him a man- stood shakily. His shaggy beard and hair combined with his large coat and gait made him look like a large bear- albeit an odd one since green tinged the bit of his face she saw. He was of obviously no relation to the boy; the preteen was short and skinny while the man was enormous. He then waved and walked away but towards what she did not know.

"Good afternoon. My name is Lilith Nirnevar." She said, remembering her etiquette lessons and curtsying as best she could. As nice as the emerald witch's robes were for blending in, they were horrid for walking and doing anything that required a wide range of movement. She much preferred the clothing of the elves; even if she was occasionally required to wear dresses it was only on formal occasions and the dresses were always loose. She normally wore whatever she wished, as long as she could do her lessons in it and she still looked respectable no one minded. Generally, that meant black training pants and a sleeveless, high-necked shirt. If she had to wear these for a year… oh Ikranya, what was she going to do?

"Hello, I'm Harry Potter." The boy said in a polite voice, wide eyes sweeping over her. Before either of them could say anything else, Mr. Ollivander, the shop's owner came out with more boxes.

"Ah, Hello, Mr. Potter! I was wondering when I would be seeing you here. It seems like just yesterday your parents were here for their very first wands. Stand by Miss. Nirnevar, if you will, and she can pass wands along to you. Hopefully my shop will not be completely blown apart by mismatched wands." The aged wand maker spoke cheerfully.

Harry narrowed his eyes in confusion while she resisted the urge to duck her head sheepishly. She really was trying her best not to but these wands were horrible fits. Mr. Ollivander set the boxes down on the ground and handed her the first one. She selected the wand and flicked her wrist, smashing the box into the ceiling before handing the wand onto Harry and picking up the next box. Another 'bring' went through the shop as the door was once more opened.

In walked a girl and two adults laden down with bags filled with books and other equipment needed to attend Hogwarts. The adults moved to the back carrying the equipment, leaving the girl standing there shifting her weight from one foot to the other. The girl was slightly taller than herself, 147 centimeters (4'10) with bushy brown hair and chocolate eyes that gazed out from a slightly tan face. She wore a brown skirt that went to her knees and a pair of brown ballet flats paired with a green tee shirt and brown jacket. "Hello," the girl said confidently, her face shining with excitement, "I'm Hermione Granger."

"I am Lilith Nirnevar. I am pleased to meet you, Hermione." She said warmly. There was something about this girl, a peculiar sense of familiarity, as if they had met before. Now that she thought about it she had felt the same sense from Harry as well. However, the possibility of her having met a pair of English muggleborns was extremely unlikely as she was from Alynia, the hidden kingdom of the elves, and her grandmother was extremely particular when it came to her associations. Being the only direct descendent of her grandfather left alive made her the heiress to an old elven family and she was expected to maintain her family's reputation. Her grandmother was the last member of an old elven family who had never married into the wizarding community, while her grandfather's family was steeped in the blood of the mixes between elf and wizard. Her grandmother rarely ventured into the wizarding world and was a complete stranger to the Mundane world, so how could she have even had a chance of meeting them before?

"I'm Harry Potter, pleased to meet you, Hermione." Harry spoke up. Once again the door's bell sounded loudly through the shop. Hermione moved to Harry's side as they looked at the newcomer.

He was tall, nearly 152 centimeters (5') with blond hair that fell into his eyes. His eyes were an icy blue and full of a mixture of emotions. She was taken aback by them; they held grief and sadness but also determination. He was dressed in a black over robe with black faded jeans and a dark blue t-shirt. The same familiarity she'd felt with Hermione and Harry struck her as he walked over to her.

"Hello, my name is Damien Numain." He reached forward a hand for her to shake. She realized he had to be American, but from his voice, one of the people who have raised him had been European; if it wasn't extremely improbable, she'd even say Alyrian. The American part explained the clothes and the hand shake. She reached out to grasp his hand when he unexpectedly turned her hand over, bowed and brought her hand to his lip. She smiled at the gesture, almost without meaning to. She curtsied in return once he dropped her hand.

"Lilith Nirnevar."Damien left his gaze on her for a moment before moving on to Hermione.

Damien, seeing the look Hermione gave him, simply shook her hand as Hermione gave her name, and repeated the process with Harry. Once done, Damien returned to her side.

Mr. Ollivander walked out of the stacks with a pile of boxes in his arms, "If you wouldn't mind standing in a half circle you could pass the wands to each other." He looked at them questioningly and they nodded. Harry and Hermione moved to Damien's other side and the boxes were set at Lilith's feet.

"Where are you from, originally?" Damien asked. She picked up a wand box and took out a dark wood wand. Flicking it at one of the shelves a deep groove appeared.

She passed the wand to Damien and said, "That's a difficult question actually, I've lived in quite a few different countries. I was born here in England, but I moved to Scotland when I was one, and then to another country when I was seven." Damien blew a hole in the counter and she passed another one to him while Mr. Olivander passed her another. She turned Hermione into a kneazle with it, the shot ricocheting of a mirror to hit her in the back.

"Sorry, 'Mione." She froze.

_An image of a toddler with short black hair and light silver eyes appeared in her mind's eye. She watched as a hand, presumably hers, waved and turned the other girl's hair pink. "Soh-rey, 'Mione!" she whispered to the other baby. Miony smiled at her and waved her hand. The pink hair turned blue and the girls giggled. A woman came in and smiled at the two before pulling out a wand. She waved it at them and Miony's hair became its normal black._

"_I swear you two have done more magic in the past nine months than I did in my first nine years." A man entered the room and picked them up in his arms. "How are my girls today?" He said bouncing them. "They preformed more magic. At breakfast they had a magical food fight, then Lil broke the safety charm on their brooms, Hermione turned their lunches into ice cream and finally Lilith turned Mione's hair pink and Mione changed it to blue." The woman said._

"_Our girls are going to be powerful." The man said smiling._

The image faded and she came back to the world where the shop owner was trying to reverse the spell.

"Hey, Lilith, what's wrong?" Damien asked.

"Nothing," she replied shaking her head softly, almost wincing when it caused her head to pound. She waved a hand and concentrated on what she wanted. The other girl transformed back into a human and she passed the wand to Damien. "I just remembered something." She said.

"Curious, how did you change her back?" Ollivander asked and she shook her head. First, that feeling of knowing the other three and then remembering something completely different from most of her memories of when she was young… none of this was making any sense.

"Damien, why don't you go next?" Hermione asked. The confident young man nodded and after flicking the wand away from everyone and passing it on to Harry he started.

"I was born in England- I think- it may have been Scottland. I lived here for over a year and then my mom moved us to the States. After she died my grandmother shipped me off to Alendrix Academy." At that Lilith gasped and he looked at her. A look of pain briefly crossed his face while he absentmindedly waved the next wand. Lilith reached for his hand and squeezed it briefly.

"I was there until it… closed and after that my grandmother had me homeschooled until my Hogwarts letter came. She was quite surprised when it arrived actually; my mom didn't tell her that my name had been placed on the list. She was still looking for an American school for me to attend when Professor Flitwick arrived with my letter. Apparently, they tried to owl it and the owl ended up crashing into the Atlantic. Sometimes I wonder about what they do to these mail owls to make them so dedicated. Anyway, I stand now in front of you."

After his little speech finished they waited, for the shopkeeper had failed to give them any more wands and was standing before them, a curious look on his face. "Come with me," the man said, leading them into the back of his shop. They stopped in front of a long table with four boxes, each a different type of wood and with a different jewel on top.

"Step in front of whichever box calls to you." Ollivander said. She looked at the other three. As one they stepped forward and stood in front of a box. Her box was a rich dark brown, long and rectangular with a circular emerald on the top. Damien's box was a few shades lighter than hers, with a rectangular citrine. Hermione was on the other side, with an even lighter box, and a deep oval sapphire. Harry had the lightest box of all, and a square ruby.

"Are you certain about your choice?" Mr. Ollivander asked gravely. She was getting the feeling they only had one chance on this and a mistake would mean their deaths. It was possible she was over reacting- with the amount of muggle fantasy she read secretly she had an overactive imagination- but she couldn't find it within herself to believe it. They each nodded.

"Then place your wand hand on the jewel." Ollivander said and they all turned toward him.

"What if I'm ambidextrous?" They said in unison. Then she and Hermione giggled, that was like what those twins did in movies.

"I suppose you could touch the jewel with both hands." The shopkeeper said. The four of them nodded at him and stepped back into place.

"On three?" she said.

"On three." Damien replied. "One, Two… Three!" They said as one.

She placed her hands on the green gem and watched as the box sprung open. Inside, on a bed of green velvet, was a wand the same color as the box. She reached into it and picked it up, feeling it settle into her palm. She began to feel dizzy as silver light seemed to spill from the wand, before she fell backwards with the wand still clutched in her hand.

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Please review with comments on how to improve this!


	2. In Which They Run

I'd like to thank Chigatana and jabarber69 for their comments on this one and topdog19 for pointing out the confusion in POVs.

Oh, and since I forgot last time I posted this chapter:

Disclaimer: Tomorrow at midnight "Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows: Part Two" comes out in theaters. As the epilogue involves Harry and Ginerva in a romantic way, 19 years after the final battle, and I happen to despise the paring, I don't own this, now do I?

Edited 7/14/11

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**Damien's Point of View**

Waking up with a headache didn't make his top ten list for ways to wake up. The girl on his lying on his arm was almost enough to make up for it, and in fact was high on the aforementioned list. Wait, girl lying on his arm?

Damien laid very still and pretended he was still asleep but he heard the others waking up. As he felt the weight on his arm leave, he 'woke up' and saw the girl, Lilith, spring to her feet, eyes wide as she took in the room.

"We need to get out of here, now." The urgency in her voice was apparent.

"Lilith, what are you talking about?" She wasn't making much sense but he stood with his wand still in hand, keeping his eyes on her.

"Not here, not now. Now, we run. Come on!" Lilith grabbed his hand and ran past Olivander, and the others in the room, aiming for the door. He heard the footsteps of Harry and Hermione but stopped thinking about them or the shouts that were calling after the newly wanded group. It wasn't exactly the best time to think when you had a girl clutching your hand in a death grip so you would follow her through a crowded alley.

"Where are we going?" He yelled at her breathlessly, tucking his wand haphazardly in his pocket. Dead sprints for extended lengths of time were not exactly his idea of fun. He enjoyed jogging, sure, but sprinting was not his thing- especially when trying to dodge people that thought you were crazy.

"Just keep following me; it'll be obvious in a minute." Lilith screamed back as she dodged another person who had stopped in her way. Damien just kept trying to get some air in his lungs as he tried to look around. Suddenly the girl in front of him sped up even more and he wondered where she was getting so much energy.

Damien watched as the large white building that housed the Diagon Alley branch of Gringotts loomed closer and closer. "Why Gringotts, Lil… Oh you genius girl!" he yelled at her and then started taking the steps as quickly as possible.

They made it to the top and were through the doors before they looked for the other two. Damien tried to see them but he didn't see bushy brown or messy black hair, not that it would be easy with all the tall adults in the way. He was shocked when mirror images of him and Lilith showed up in front of them, panting heavily and clutching their sides. Then he started to notice the differences.

The girl in front of him had grey eyes, the light silver of a sharp and gleaming blade, but the girl beside him had green eyes that flickered between a dark emerald and an even deeper shade of green. Their hair also differed; Lilith's was straight and such a deep black it at times looked like she had purple highlights this other girl's was a lighter shade of black, edging towards brown, and while it wasn't bushy it was still faintly wavy. There were some other differences but those stood out the most. Going by assumptions the other girl was Hermione.

The boy across from him had dark blue eyes to the icy depths he saw every day in the mirror and his hair was infinitely messier than his own was but still black as night. Going by the same assumption as before, this boy was Harry. What this meant he wasn't sure, but he now knew why Lilith had run them out of the wand shop like a bat out of hell.

"What's_pant_ wrong? Why did _pant_ we run?" Lilith's semi-twin, asked. Obviously, Hermione had never invested much in running. While the dark haired girl at his side was breathing normally, the one in front of him was still panting. His own breathing had returned to normal, as was the breathing of the other boy.

"Look at me, make my eyes grey, my hair wavy and browner but still black and you get what you look like right now, Hermione. Getting your wand isn't supposed to do anything to you, but a powerful bond with a perfectly matched wand has occasionally been known to break glamour charms. This is cause for concern to begin with- Harry and Hermione you are perfectly normal muggleborns as far as appearances go, right?" Lilith launched into an explanation of her reasoning. Hermione nodded, but Damien noticed Harry bit his lip and slightly shook his head.

"The release of the glamour has made you look like us- and my mother never mentioned me having any siblings, alive or dead." He added to her spiel. Lilith smiled at him gratefully and he realized they were still clinging to each other's hand. He was strangely okay with that. These people radiated a sense of the familiar, as if he had known them all before. Yet, how could he know them? Lilith maybe, her accent was almost completely Alyrian, but he hadn't been to that place in years. The other two, not much of a chance either.

"Damien, you've changed as well, not much but a bit. Your hair, it looks like Harry's." Lilith told him and his eyebrows shot up. Messy black hair… not his first choice.

"At the moment we have no answers and we don't even have enough facts to start asking the right questions. Therefore, we're here for two reasons; One, Gringotts isn't part of the British Empire, every Gringotts across the world is part of the Goblin Nation, so we're safe here and two, Gringotts can perform heritage tests. I think the best thing to do right now is request a conference room, the two of you are going to give us your histories and I think we'll expand on ours a bit. Oh, and you did grab your wands didn't you?" Lilith continued quickly. Harry raised his hand and Damien stared at him.

"How do you know all of this stuff? Why did we have to do that to get our wands? How can this not be a part of the British Empire, it's still in Britain shouldn't it still be ruled by the Queen?" Hermione obviously didn't feel the need to act as if she was in a schoolroom and spewed questions into the air faster than any person could respond.

"Why don't we get a room before we get into all the complicated questions that don't need an immediate response?" He spoke up. At this rate, these two girls would get into a discussion too fast to be followed and they would never get the answers they needed. Harry and Hermione nodded at him and he turned to look at Lilith. She nodded too and started to turn around when their joined hands got in the way.

"Oh, I'm sorry!" She pulled her hand from his quickly and turned towards the shortest line of all the tellers.

"It's okay, I didn't mind." He whispered to her as they stepped in line behind a pudgy man with light brown hair parted in the middle.

After silent minutes spent waiting, a goblin led the man away and they stepped up to the booth.

"Good day, my friends and I request one of your conference rooms for a private conversation." Lilith spoke to the goblin formally. He only hoped the goblin would see it as genuine and not insulting. From the few things he knew of goblins they didn't like wizards unless they were ripping them off.

"A private room is 1 galleon, 11 sickles and 20 knuts." The bald goblin sneered at the four. Lilith reached into the pocket of the robes she was wearing and started looking for the money but he pulled out his Gringotts key.

"Here," He pushed the key over the desk and the goblin picked it up. The long fingers examined the key carefully before pressing it into a pad. The goblin handed the key back to him and he replaced it in his jeans pocket. The goblin snapped his finger and another bald headed goblin with pointy nose and ears and small, beady eyes came over.

"Griphook, show them to Conference Room 7." The teller said to the other goblin. The group was led down a hall with white marble floors and wood paneled walls. He took it in with interest; it wasn't every day you saw beyond the entrance hall or the vaults. Griphook stopped and used a long fingered hand to twist the ornate door handle, allowing them entrance into a large room.

"Thank you, sir" The four of them chorused, stepping into the room. Damien threw himself into a chair and watched as the others sat down; Lilith to his left, Harry across from him, and Hermione to his right.

"So, who wants to start?" He asked the silent room.

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Reviews cause improvements! Please point any continuity mistakes out to me, or spelling, or grammar, or anything really.


	3. A Question and A Laugh

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter, Ron, Ginny and Dumbledore would have never been important to Harry and Hermione would have been the center of his world. As the world's greatest slut who probably couldn't have ever gotten him without acting like her mother and feeding him a love potion is with Harry and Hermione is with an hideous, lump of foul deformity, obsequious, childish, sycophantic, immature, idiotic, zalupa, teme, cyka, better known as Ron, I don't think I own it.

I thank Joey Blaq, Lord Nemisis, laurencracefan, and farwalker for their reviews on this chapter, and for telling me I needed to straighten some things out, leading to my edit of all three chapters.

Edited 7/14/11

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**Hermione's Point of View**

"May I?" Hermione asked, drawing in a deep breath. Today had been shaping up to be one of the best days of her life, the day she finally found a world she had a chance to fit in. Wandering around Diagon Alley with her parents buying amazing things that were straight out of books, it was fantastical. They'd saved buying her wand, an actual magic wand, for last. Then she'd met three others whom she thought would be her friends, and now… She was sitting in a conference room in a bank that apparently wasn't a part of the British Empire, ready to divulge what she knew about herself to people she had only just met, because getting a wand that fit had changed her appearance, and her entire life seemed to have been a lie. The only benefit was her hair didn't feel like it was its normal bushy mess.

"I'm alright with it." Harry said and Hermione saw Damien and Lilith nod. Hermione took in another deep breath and then began to speak.

"My name is Hermione Jane Granger, and I was born on September 19th, 1979, to Daniel and Emma Granger. We live in Oxford, Oxfordshire, and my parents are both dentists. A few days ago, Professor McGonagall came to our house and delivered my Hogwarts letter, and explained about magic and that I was a witch. My parents, they run their own practice, got some others to cover their practice for a week so we could come down to London and get my school things, and maybe see the sights. We got here yesterday evening, but it was late so we waited to come until today." Hermione stopped and realized she didn't know what to say beyond that.

"Is there anything that you could say made you think you weren't your parents daughter?" Damien asked her. She bit her lip as she thought.

"When I was nine, my cousin knocked into me and I fell down the stairs." Hermione briefly rubbed her right arm. "I broke my arm, and my parents took me to the hospital. When I was waiting for the cast to dry, I overheard my father talking to the doctor; they were arguing about my birthday. There was a bit of a discrepancy with my X-rays. The doctor said that my bone age was off by several months and my father got into an argument and started citing several studies and saying that it wasn't exact science and a few months wouldn't show up and that I'd always been tall for my age. I went with what my father said, I wanted to believe him. I've always believed in rules and authority figures, but now…" She trailed off.

"So we need to find out your birthday, but if you're a few months off you might be my older sister, although you look more like my twin. My birthday is in August, but mine might not be right either and it's 1980 not 1979. Then there is always the possibility you're my cousin or our appearance is just coincidental, although I don't put much stock into coincidences. Is there anything else you can think of ,Hermione?" Lilith spoke to her with a curious expression. A younger sister, she'd always wanted siblings. Neither of her parents had been the bookish type, they'd been well educated, but they preferred sports and other hobbies for their free time.

"There isn't much I can think of, my parents have always tried to be supportive and caring towards me. I think they mentioned that my mother had trouble having me and they couldn't have any more children." Hermione spoke, wondering if her mother had been able to have at all.

"Hmm, I wonder if there was an official adoption record. It would help determine when you were placed there, and if the adoption was done legally. Harry, would you go next? You shook your head when Lilith asked if you were a muggleborn," Damien spoke up this time. Hermione looked at him and smiled then looked at Harry. He seemed like a shy boy, but she hoped they'd be friends.

"Um… How much do you know about the defeat of Voldemort?" Harry asked them quietly. Hermione had no idea and she didn't like it. Although if she separated it out, wasn't that 'flight of death' in French? It had been a while, but it was worth a shot.

"Doesn't that mean 'flight of death' in French?" Hermione said at the same time as Lilith. They looked at each other and smiled.

"I don't know; we didn't do French at my primary school. As I was told earlier, Voldemort was a Dark Lord that existed about ten years ago. Hagrid told me he fired a killing curse on me after killing my mum and dad with the same curse but it didn't work on me or something. He said that's how I got my scar." Harry lifted his fringe revealing a lightning bolt scar. "After that I was placed with my Aunt and Uncle but they aren't… fond, of magic and by extension, me" Harry spoke softly enunciating each word. Hermione realized he was an orphan and resisted the urge to hug him. No matter what had happened originally, who her parents really were and how angry she was at being lied to all her recalled life, she had two people who loved her unconditionally; two people who had loved her through years of bullying and no friends as well as the odd incidents she now could attribute to accidental magic.

"A Dark Lord you said? That should be easy enough to look into. I'm sure any bookstore will have information on him and the known version of what happened. If we have to we can make some discrete inquiries, although we might need a glamour charm or two for that. "Damien spoke up, tapping his fingers on the table. Hermione thought for a moment.

"I think I bought a few books about recent history in the magical world." Hermione spoke up. She had bought as many books as her parents had let her about the magical world and its inhabitants. This was an entirely new world, with new people and a different history. She didn't want to be terribly behind and look empty headed. That would be worse than being called a 'know-it-all' again.

"You said you survived the Killing curse, left only with a scar, and no one knows what truly happened? That doesn't sound suspicious at all." Lilith spoke up. The other girl leaned forward and rested her elbows on the table with her hands clasped under her chin. Hermione agreed with her.

"All I know is what Hagrid has told me. My aunt and uncle didn't even tell me I was a wizard and they kept my letters from me for a week. My uncle was so scared of the letters he took us on a giant car trip just to try avoiding them but they kept showing up. Then Hagrid showed up at midnight last night with my letter at the rock in the sea that my uncle had dragged us to." Harry looked annoyed thinking about it and she felt for him.

"Damien, you mentioned you lived with your mother and then your grandmother, what do you know, and can we be sure that it was your mother and grandmother and you and Hermione aren't in the same boat." Lilith looked intrigued. Someone in the same boat as her, it was nice to think she wasn't alone, that this cruelty wasn't done to her and no one else, but she wouldn't wish the confusion in her mind on anyone.

"I'm sure, I've seen the pictures from the hospital, and they're signed and dated in my mother's handwriting. The only thing that I felt was odd was that a few of the pictures ripped in half. My grandmother told me once that the pictures had contained another baby in them and my mother hadn't wanted anyone looking at them to be confused. I wasn't interested in them at the time; I just wanted a picture of my mother so I was trying to hurry her to farther down in the box. It's possible that there was someone else in the picture, and if it was a twin then well, that explains what my grandmother told me of my mother." Damien shook his head as he talked but he had a small smile on his face. Hermione looked at him and saw how much he cared for his grandmother and then felt the sinking disappointment. All of them seemed to have been given pieces, but she'd be given illusions.

"Lilith, what about you?" Hermione asked with interest. The only one that hadn't gone so far seemed to have absolute conviction in her past.

"My story is a bit complicated now, especially if you really do turn out to be my older sister." Lilith sighed. What did her being older have to do with anything? Oh well, this was going to be interesting.

"I'm the heiress to the Ancient and Noble House of Nirnevar in both realms." Lilith stated plainly and she heard Damien let in a sharp breath.

"If Hermione is your older sister that messes with your entire family structure and puts her in as heiress even if she has none of the training you have." Damien spoke in a sharp voice.

"And I have to be of the blood for that to have been claimed of me, my family history is certain because of it, at least through my mother's side. I've never known who my father was, but I know he was a wizard. My mother was a Nirnevar, and I've always had that name because of my status." Lilith finished. Her, an heiress to some family with a complicated title, what were they talking about now?

"I don't understand, what are you two talking about?" Hermione asked the two.

"This earth contains several realms. Most of the world is mundane, filled with muggles. The other, magical races have pieces of it, hidden away. The wizarding world is hidden by their magic, but it isn't a comprehensive world. There are pockets, like Diagon Alley, but most homes are scattered in the English countryside, or hidden in the midst of cities. The elven realm is more comprehensive, it is one giant pocket of land, hidden away from muggles and other races. Its people still travel out, and most have homes somewhere besides Alynia, but the government and the main manor houses, as well as the shopping centers are there. The vampires, the shapeshifting werewolves, they each have their own pockets as well. Other beings exist in the muggle or wizarding worlds.

Now, for the heir part. Each world has families, older ones that have existed for centuries. These families have power, and put stock in bloodlines and keeping the family, especially the main line, alive. In the worlds of wizards and elves, heirs are determined by your blood connection, and who is eldest. If you are of my blood and older than me, then by right you are the heir to everything the family has. I been trained as far back as I can recall in everything I need to know to work in both worlds. If you replace me not only are you years behind in knowledge of the wizarding world, you've probably never even heard of Alynia, besides what Damien and I have told you. When we find who did this they are going to be in more trouble than they can imagine, robbing a family of its rightful heir is a crime in Alynia and is punishable from anything to a hefty fine to death. In our family's case, it would be death." Lilith explained to her. Hermione considered this. Magical creatures secreted away in areas hidden from muggles. It seemed reasonable considering the fact that her parents hadn't been able to see the Leaky Cauldron.

"Damien, how do you know about all this?" Harry asked. He had an interested look on his face. Hermione realized he was right- only Lilith had mentioned elves- Damien had only mentioned wizards.

"I am a Secui elf, as is Lilith, as we believe you two are. I have been taught about the wizard, muggle, and elven worlds and have been to school in all three." Damien responded to her question.

"Why didn't the professor mention elves to us when she visited us?" Hermione asked.

"We're a very secretive race, Pure elves don't leave Alyria much to interact with wizards or muggles, but Secui elves do. However Secui elves don't usually reveal we're Secui, we pass off as wizards. We're classified as Secui because we have wizard magic, because we're half and half. While attending Hogwarts, we won't divulge the fact we are elves. Some will know who we are, and will act accordingly, while others will not. We'll accept this, but not acknowledge that we are who they believe." Lilith said the truth in a strict voice.

"Wouldn't we have pointed ears if were elves?" Harry spoke up his hands brushing the tips of his ears. Hermione looked at him and then switched her gaze to the other two at the table who had broken out in laughter.

"Pointed _ha ha ha_ ears _ha ha ha!_" Damien choked out before falling out of his chair and rolling on the floor laughing. Hermione looked at Harry who looked insulted and Lilith who was still in her chair giggling behind her hands.

"Do you care to explain?" Hermione spoke up. It was true that most books, shows on the telly and at the cinema portrayed elves as having pointed ears.

"There is only one type of elf that has pointed ears and those are house elves, who are a cross between goblins and some type of elf over six millennia ago. Damien that's enough, you can stop laughing now." Lilith shook her head at him but still smiled and Hermione just sat silently. It took a minute, but Damien was able to compose himself and dust off his clothing.

"Do either of you have any other questions?" Damien asked them. Hermione pondered for a few minutes and shook her head, she didn't know enough to even draw up questions. Harry did the same and the other two exchanged a quick glance.

"Should we get heritage tests then?" Lilith let the question hang in the air. Hermione thought for a moment. If they went through with this there was no going back; anything that they discovered had to be used to discover what had happened. There wasn't going back from where they were now, she decided, they could only go forward.

"I'm in." Hermione spoke with absolute conviction.

"So am I." Harry spoke up.

"I'm all for it." Damien threw in.

"Let's do this then." Lilith put her two cents in and moved to stand. Hermione copied her example and they moved towards the door. Whatever they found out they had to act on and they only had a month before school began.

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Reviews improve this thing!


	4. Some Answers

I'm sorry about this taking as long as it has; I have a muse that likes to hope stories and fandoms, and that cringes at my older work.

Disclaimer: If I owned Harry Potter the fourth book would have included Harry and Hermione getting together before the first task and they would have gone to the Yule Ball together. I really don't think that happened now did it?

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Harry watched as Lilith opened the door and spoke quickly to the goblin standing outside. Damien stood watching her while Hermione stood nervously by her chair. His eyesight was better now; he'd removed his glasses a few minutes ago and seen clearer than he had in years, so he'd left them in his pocket. At the moment, he could see better without them than he could with them.

Damien motioned to them and they walked out the door to join Lilith. The goblin that had been posted there led them down a long corridor before making a left and then a right. As they continued walking he asked Hermione in a whispered voice, "What do you make of all this?"

"That everything I've ever known is essentially a lie and that I'm being thrust into a world that has more secrets then truths." Hermione spoke in the same whispered volume. What she said was what intrigued him and he disagreed with it in a way.

"Even if your family is different doesn't that mean every bit of you is different…" Harry started to argue with her but cut off as the others stopped. The goblin led them into an ornate room with vaulted ceilings, granite walls, marble floors and several long, wooden tables. There was a desk at the far end where a goblin sat amidst several bookshelves and large stacks of paper. Along one wall were several large cabinets made of a dark wood. The goblin that had led them here left and they walked over to the one seated at the desk.

"Good afternoon Goblin Sir, we wish to have heritage tests performed. Would you honor us by performing such a service?" Damien spoke this time. Harry noticed the formal tone and wondered if everything in this society was antiquated. It would explain why Lilith was letting Damien do this, hadn't their history books mentioned that women had almost no rights a century or two ago? Perhaps this world ran on the same ancient principles.

"Such insolent youth these days. Very well, which one of you wants to go first?" The goblin snapped at them moving off. The goblin reminded him of one of his primary school teachers. The man had always yapped about how kids were so disrespectful, even if they weren't, but he'd often slipped Harry a book out of the library that had been discarded or a cookie left over from a teacher's luncheon.

"Hermione, you're first." Lilith ushered Hermione forward and Harry watched intensely. The goblin picked up a large piece of paper and set it on one of the tables. Then he walked over to the cabinets, removed four vials of a dark liquid, and sat them on the table, along with a small stone bowl, dagger and quill.

The goblin poured one potion into the bowl and picked up the dagger. "You need to give me your hand. I need blood for the potion." The goblin held his hand out for the girl's and Harry watched as Hermione shakily gave her left hand to him.

Harry stepped closer as the goblin held her hand over the bowl and used the dagger to cut her palm and let seven drops fall in.

"Wicked!" Harry breathed out as the goblin ran a finger over the cut and it healed instantly. Then the goblin stuck a quill into the mixture and the four of them looked into the bowl as the quill absorbed the liquid. Afterward the goblin placed the quill on the parchment and it took off, scrawling names all over the paper.

"Excuse me sir, what is your name?" Harry asked the goblin, getting tired of always calling him goblin in his thoughts.

"My name is Hagglethorn, young wizard, thank you for asking." Hagglethorn gave him a large grin showing all of his sharp teeth.

"Your…Welcome?" Harry responded nervously. The sight of a goblin grinning was not pretty, terrifying was a good word.

"Okay, girlie your parchment is done, which one of you is going next?" Hagglethorn asked them. None of them responded as they looked at the paper. At the bottom rested Hermione's name with her date of birth. Harry let in a sharp intake of breath. 30/7/79 was the date on the paper. He watched as Hermione's finger rubbed the paper where her name rested next to Lilith Tahirah Nirnevar Black and the date 30/9/80.

"Hermione Aria Nirnevar Black" Lilith said her new sister's name. "Looks like you really are my older sister." Harry looked at the girl. She had a small, sad smile on her face.

"Yeah, I guess so. Are we allowed to keep these?" Hermione asked Hagglethorn softly.

"You can. Now are we doing another one or what." The old goblin grumbled.

"Harry, you go next." Damien looked at him and ushered him over to the next table while the girls stayed behind. The goblin repeated the process on him and he winced as the dagger cut his palm. He was glad the dagger had been wiped off first. He watched with morbid fascination as his blood fell into the bowl and the goblin healed it painlessly. After the quill had absorbed the concoction, it was set to inscribe and it sped off.

Harry James Numain Potter was the name at the bottom with date of birth listed as 31/7/80. His information hadn't changed much at all.

"What did the story Hagrid told you say your mother's name was?" Harry heard Damien ask him.

"Lily Potter" Harry replied looking at the entry next to his name. Damien Charlus Numain Potter 31/7/80 (2)

"This doesn't show a Lily Potter, but it does show Rebekah Numain and James Potter never being married." Damien said tracing the lines.

"If they weren't married maybe that's why we were separated, each of them wanted one of us but they didn't want to be anywhere near each other." Harry suggested. When he'd been cooking he'd overheard a similar situation in a movie his Aunt had been watching on the telly.

"Possibly, but I don't think so. We might be able to get something out of my, our, grandmother." Damien said absentmindedly as he traced the lines back through their father's side.

"We should get going," Harry heard Hermione's voice call out, "It's getting late."

"True, Damien and I don't need heritage tests done, this matches with what we know." Lilith said, and Harry noticed she and Hermione were rolling up the paper. He and Damien did the same.

"Go where, we ran from the people we were with and, um, do we really want to risk your parents or the guy Harry was with to tell whoever did this to what happened? They'd probably erase our memories of what we've discovered." Damien spoke up cynically. Harry looked at his newfound brother. He didn't look like someone to start beating someone up for no reason but the tone of voice he'd just used reminded him of Aunt Petunia when she found one of Uncle Vernon's ideas stupid, like having fresh tomatoes with cheddar cheese instead of mozzarella because the mozzarella was getting expensive.

"Well… we have two choices. We go into the muggle world and lay low for a month there. Or…" Lilith trailed off.

"Or what?" Harry found himself asking. If there was another option he'd take it; he wasn't fond of going back into the muggle world with only three other pre-teens on his side. They'd probably be handed over the bobbies by an adult thinking they were three runaways. They'd be right and who ever called them in would never believe they were better off on their own.

"We could go to Alyria and seek shelter with my family. Well, our family." Lilith spoke up, motioning to Hermione at the last bit.

"Ah-leer-ee-ah is how you pronounce it?" Hermione stretched the word out and Lilith nodded at her. "We have to go there then, the bobbies will take us in if they think we're runaways." Hermione voiced Harry's thoughts.

"Um… what are bobbies?" Lilith asked looking confused and biting her lip, the way Harry had watched Hermione do frequently during their meeting.

"They're the mundane version of Aurors or Aderes." Damien spoke up. Harry looked at him in puzzlement but Lilith appeared to understand. If you took into account they were compared to the police, then did that make these Aurors and Aderes some sort of magical law enforcement?

"We need to find Ilyana then, or see if we can use the Floo somewhere." Lilith spoke up. "What about your grandmother Damien, do you want to go home with her?"

"It might be best, we can work two angles. You'll take Hermione with you, I'll take Harry?" Damien agreed with words that only just fit the conversation.

"That works, I'm going to be in for it but this might just save me." Lilith smiled at them. "Are you going to stay in England for the next month?"

"Yeah, I'll owl you?" Damien replied. Owls, the sheet he'd gotten had mentioned them as pets and said they awaited his 'owl', plus there had been caged owls in one of the shops. Were they some sort of messengers, like pigeons or something?

"Alright, I think we'll be in Alyria or London for most of the next month." Lilith responded.

"What about my 'parents'?" Hermione spoke up, her fingers making quotes around the word 'parents'. "They had all my things for Hogwarts, all I have left is my wand."

"We won't know until we get out of here." Harry decided to speak up. All this deliberation wasn't really his thing. Get the facts while everyone else is talking and then make a decision. Not only did it make people think he was a shy boy who wouldn't cause any trouble; he often went unnoticed and got information he wouldn't have otherwise. After he got the information though, he wanted to act. Patience had its place and time but when that was over anymore was just dallying.

"I think I'm going to like you." Lilith said while looking at him. He resisted shivering. The look on the girl's face was much too calculating for a ten-year-old.

"Hmm Hmm." The old goblin coughed and Harry saw Lilith and Damien share a look.

"Charge Hermione's to the Nirnevar account." "Charge Harry's to the Numain account." Each said.

"Which ones?" The goblin asked and Harry refrained from letting his eyebrows raise.

"The main one, for both I think." Damien said and Lilith nodded her agreement. So there was more than one account for each family. Harry watched as the Goblin wrote something in a book and nodded.

"Your accounts have been credited for the tests. Have a nice day." The Goblin grinned again.

"Have a nice day," All four of them echoed. Harry picked up his rolled paper and Hermione had hers. Damien opened the door for Lilith and Hermione and then Harry grabbed it to let his newfound brother go through.

The same goblin who had led them to the room was waiting to lead them away. He silently began to lead them to the entrance hall. Once they arrived, Harry began scanning the crowd to see if anyone he recognized was there. He couldn't see Hagrid, who would have been easy to spot, but he didn't see the people who had been Hermione's parents either.

"Lilith!" He did hear a woman call out as she walked over to them.

"Ilyana," Lilith responded to the blond, blue eyed woman. She looked to be in her late teens, early twenties, and had a look of disapproval, relief and surprise on her face.

"What did you think you were doing, taking off like that?" The woman scolded, and Harry felt his shoulders reflexively stiffen at the tone.

"Getting myself and my companions to a place we would be safe. Gringotts isn't a part of the wizarding or elven worlds, and no one can be arrested or removed forcibly from here without the goblin's say so. Seeing as I picked up a wand, passed out, and woke up to see a girl who looked like she could be my sister in the place of the girl there only moments before, and the other boy a mirror image of the one beside me, who didn't have the blond hair he had moments before but jet black messy hair, it seemed like a good idea." Lilith spoke defensively, and Harry was not surprised at her logical defense. The girl didn't seem the type to stand down without a fight.

"What made you think you wouldn't be safe where you were?" Apparently no backing down was a family trait, Harry noticed.

"Her 'parents' were there, I had no idea what happened, and they looked shocked, but not totally surprised."

"Very well, what's done is done. What did you learn?"

"Ilyana, may I have the honor of presenting to you my older sister, Hermione Nirnevar." Lilith said and Harry watched the shock go across the woman's face.

"You performed a heritage test on her?"

"The goblins did. They did one for Harry here as well."

"Perhaps a proper introduction is order?" Lilith turned towards him.

"Very well. These two are Harry and Damien Numain." Lilith said and Damien stepped forward.

"Damien, Harry, may I introduce you two to my cousin, Ilyana Nirnevar.

"Pleased to meet you." Damien said, and Harry echoed his sentiment, shaking the woman's hand.

"I am pleased to meet you as well, both of you. Where are you planning to go?"

"My grandmother should still be in the Leaky Cauldron, we'll meet up with her there." Damien replied. Harry almost smiled. He had a grandmother.

"We'll escort you." Ilyana said, and the five of them left the building, Hermione and Harry carrying proof of who they were in their hands.

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Review please! I really need the feedback on what can be improved, or what doesn't make sense. I don't have a beta for this, so its my own proofreading.


	5. To The Leaky Cauldron

Disclaimer: Watching Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows; Part 2, I was one of the only person in the theater to boo when Hermione and Ron were kissing. Had I written the books, which the movies were based upon, that wouldn't have happened. As you are all intelligent homo sapiens sapiens, I believe you are capable of making the connection.

This chapter is mainly one large flashback, mostly because I felt like it. Flashbacks are denoted by _italics_ and a shifting in point of view from third to first person. I know that I typically write in a third person limited style, alternating between characters, whose names are at the top of the chapter to avoid confusion, but I felt that first person would be an interesting way to do flashbacks. If it gets too confusing, tell me in a review (I check them while I'm writing the chapters) and I'll rewrite the flashback in the normal style.

Thanks go to Catdays67,growlerlight, starboy454, Fridizh, and Shannalynn for their reviews.

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**Lilith's Point of View**

Getting from Gringotts to the Leaky Cauldron to meet Damien and Harry's grandmother had been interesting, Lilith reflected.

Gringotts was at the opposite end of Diagon Alley from the Leaky Cauldron, a terrific money-making scheme she was sure. Olivander's was in the middle, but closer to the bank, which meant that most had to go through the alley a time and a half to get all their school supplies, as the wand was usually saved for last. This happenstance meant that they could duck back into the wand shoppe to find out the make of the wands.

"_Hello again, Mr. Olivander" Ilyana said, leading us into the store, where Olivander was putting away the wands that had failed earlier. _

"_Hello again, I was wondering if you would return to learn the meanings of the wands."_

"_The wands have a meaning?" Ilyana was the one to voice the question I knew I was thinking._

"_Come back here, I doubt you want to be spotted through the window."_

"_Very well." Ilyana responded._

_Olivander led us back to where the boxes still sat opened. "Take the boxes, they go with the wands. Tapping them with the wand on top of the gem will shrink them." The four of us did as we were told, each of us placing our wand back in a pocket, along with the boxes. Damien and I secured them in robe pockets, while Hermione placed hers in her jacket's inside pocket and Harry stuck his into his jeans. Olivander scowled at that._

"_Here." He tossed each of us a holster. I examined it carefully; it was dragon hide, good quality, designed with adjustable straps so it could go on your leg or arm. "Those wands deserve better than being placed into a pocket. Flick your wrist, the wand goes to your hand, or use it like a normal holster."_

"_What is their tale Mr. Olivander?" I asked the man whist attaching the holster to my inner left arm and placing the wand inside it. I noticed Damien also used his left arm while Harry and Hermione used their right. _

"_Those wands were made by my Grandfather, and he spent a year making them, one for each equinox or solstice. The first was the one that chose Mr. Numain, created on Ostara. He crafted the wand, and then the box. He refused to work on anything else during the equinox, or attend any of the celebrations. Then the one that chose Mr. Potter, created on Litha. The same thing happened. Miss Granger, forgive me if that isn't your name, yours was created on Mabon, in the same way. Miss Nirnevar, yours was created on Yule, and before January 1__st__, my Grandfather had passed on." Mr. Olivander stopped for a moment._

"_May I see your wand, Miss Nirnevar?" He asked me, and I obliged, passing it to him. He examined it, looking at it from all angles. "The one that chose you," he began, "was Yew and Dragon Heartstring, 12 inches. Not brittle, but unyielding." He gave me back my wand and I slipped it back inside the holster. _

_Olivander turned to Hermione, who handed hers over without being told, and I waited to see what the man would say. "Yours is Hazel and Dragon Heartstring, 10 ½ inches. Springy." He handed Hermione back her wand. _

_Harry was next, also handing over his wand without prompting. "Mr. Potter. Yours is Holly and Phoenix Feather, 11 inches. Pliant, but not weak." _

_Damien gave over his wand, as Olivander handed Harry his back. "Yours is Oak and Phoenix Feather,11 ¾ inches. Strong, but it will bend to its advantage." I pondered the information. Both sets of siblings had the same core type, although we all had different woods. _

"_What were the gems on the boxes?" Hermione asked before I had a chance._

"_Emerald, Sapphire, Citrine and Ruby." I nodded at Olivander's answer. They were fitting with what I was thinking. _

"_Thank you, Mr. Olivander." I said, the others echoing me._

"_The four of you will do great things, but which way you turn is your own choice." The man said, and then led us to the front of the store. _

_From Olivander's, we kept moving through the alley. Luckily, we didn't run into anyone in the Leaky Cauldron, although Tom, the barkeep, had the school things that Hermione had bought in the alley. He also had a note for her. Ilyana checked all of them for tracking or other spells but there were none. Hermione was then allowed to read the note, which simply said that they were sorry, and that they assumed that she would be spending the rest of the summer elsewhere, but they thought she'd want her school things. Ilyana shrunk them, giving them to Hermione to carry in a pocket. _

_Damien went upstairs to the room his grandmother was in, and Ilyana got a private meeting room from Tom. He led us there, and we waited five or so minutes for Damien to bring his grandmother to us. _

"_Misses Nirnevar, Harry, may I introduce you to my grandmother, the Dowager Lady Numain, Evelyn Numain" Damien said, walking into the room, leading his grandmother by the arm. She was a small woman, 160 or so centimeters (5'2), with short cut white hair and warm brown eyes. Her face was wrinkled with age and smile lines, and she was smiling as Damien introduced us. _

"_Grandmother, may I introduce you to the Misses Nirnevar; Ilyana, Hermione and Lilith." He introduced us in age order, and she shook each of our hands, and we exchanged the usual greetings and pleasantries. Her eyes lingered for a moment on me, why, I'm unsure._

"_And who is this young man?" She asked, the look on her face, saying she knew exactly who he was. _

"_This would be, as confirmed by the goblins at Gringotts with an heritage test, my brother, Harry James Numain Potter." Damien said, and I could see he was nervous. The dowager stepped forward and gave Harry a hug, causing him to stiffen before relaxing in her hold._

"_It has been a very long time since I have seen you Harry Potter. I did not know if I would be able to see you again. But that is a story for a bit later, I believe." The woman said._

"_Lady Numain," my cousin began, before the Dowager Numain cut her off._

"_Evelyn please, Ilyana, was it?" She said, and I found myself ready to like this woman very much. She seemed to be down to earth, not anything at all like my own grandmother._

"_Yes, Evelyn." _

"_Before we begin, let me get something straight. Which one of you is the heiress to the Nirnevar estate?" I found myself biting my lip at a questing I normally would have been able to answer without a problem. _

"_At the present time, Lady, I am. However, based on today's occurrences and the heritage test preformed upon Hermione, she is eldest, so it is likely she will take over." I said, trying to act as I had been taught. It hurt more than I wanted to admit, even to myself, to realize that everything I had been training for since my Great-Grandmother, Selena, sat me down and told me what I was to our family, and what would be expected of me from now on._

"_Lilith, I expect you to call me Evelyn as well, the same goes for Hermione. As for your status, I was only curious. Your mother was Aria Nirnevar, yes?" She asked me. _

"_Yes, she was." I replied with a soft smile. _

"_She was friends with my daughter, Rebekah, and I grew to see her as my daughter. She had quite the spat with her mother, your grandmother, at fifteen or so, and Rebekah pleaded for me to let her stay with us during the summers." The Lady told me, and I smiled, internally grinning even wider. There were so few people who had know my mother, for just the reason that the Dowager had known her; she'd left at age fifteen and hadn't reconciled with her mother before her death. Hopefully, I would be able to learn more about my mother from her._

"_Thank you for that information, ma'am," I replied. "I hope that at a more appropriate time I could ask you a few questions about her."_

"_You're welcome, and I'd be happy to, perhaps later this summer." I gave her a nod, and she looked Hermione up and down. "Now, Hermione, is it? You've been raised muggle I see." _

"_Yes ma'am." Hermione responded, clasping her hands together.._

"_Nothing wrong with that, the muggle world is quite an interesting place. I've spent some time there myself, my own mother was a muggleborn who made sure to indoctrinate me in its ways while I was young enough to not have heard any bias against it. I made sure that I taught my own doctor how to survive in the muggle world, and Damien and I live half in and half out of it most of the time." Hermione seemed to relax a bit, and smile at what the Dowager said. I hope that it helped her. _

"_Now, will you be in London or Alyria until Hogwarts begins?" the Lady asked Ilyana._

"_I had planned keep Lilith in London, but now I'll be taking them both to Alyria to talk with Lady Iscarta." Ilyana replied. _

"_Very well. I'll be taking both boys with me to the Numain home in Alyria, at least for now. I assume the four of you would like to keep in touch?" She turned to the four of us and we all nodded. 'Well you'll have access to owls, I suggest you use them. We'll have to see about giving you a chance to meet up once we get things straightened out."_

"_Good day then. It was a pleasure meeting you, Ilyana, Lilith, Hermione. Harry, Damien, come, we're flooing to a transfer station." With that, she strode out of the room._

"_Goodbye, Hermione, Lilith." Harry said, "Goodbye Ilyana." He moved towards the door, but seemed to be waiting for Damien. _

"_Goodbye Hermione, Ilyana." Damien said, then walked closer to me, and leaned until he could whisper into my ear._

"_Lilith, owl me if you need to talk." He said, pulling back. _

"_The same goes for you." I responded. _

"_Goodbye, Lilith."_

"_Goodbye Damien." He left then, taking Harry with him._

"_Come," Ilyana said to both of us, leading us out of the room, and into the Cauldron proper. The Numains had already left, and our cousin led us over to the fireplace. _

"_Lilith, you go first. You're heading to the London House." Ilyana told me, and I took floo powder from the pouch she offered. I tossed it in the flames and stepped inside. _

"_Miyona" I said, and I spun away._

_Once I arrived at our London home, I stepped out of the fire, and dusted myself off, moving away from the hearth._

_A few moments later, Hermione stumbled out, and I helped her get out of the way. Ilyana followed, and she led us downstairs, to the floo connected to the Alyrian Floo Network_

"_Lilith, you're first."_

"_Voron," I said, throwing in powder from the jar on the mantle and vanishing._

Lilith turned over in her bed. From there, Hermione had been presented to their Grandmother, who then closeted herself up with Ilyana and the elders. As they hadn't yet come out, Lilith unsure as to what they were deciding. For a few more minutes, she tried to get into a comfortable position to sleep in, but found she was incapable. Her worry over her future was keeping her wide awake, despite the lateness of the hour.

Sighing, she resigned herself to a sleepless night. Sitting up, she climbed out of bed and picked up _The Standard Book of Spells; Grade One. _If she couldn't sleep, she might as well do something productive.

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Review mean improvements (and more incentive to update)!


	6. A Decision

Thanks go to starboy69 and Fridizh for their reviews on Chapter 5.

Disclaimer: Let me see…. Harry didn't meet Hermione prior to meeting Ron, and he didn't have a brother. Therefore, I don't own the Potter books. Let the Flying Spaghetti Monster be my witness, I don't own them.

Oh, and the Elves take a lot of their vocabulary from Latin. Just in case you end up wondering.

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Hermione had spent the past three days in an elegant room. Decorated in royal blue and antique white, it was more extravagant than any she'd ever spent time in. The bed was plush and queen sized, with satin sheets. There was a walk in closet, empty except for her school robes and uniform and a few dresses that Ilyana had dropped off. She was wearing one of them now, a short sleeved, knee length, periwinkle blue dress. There was also a bathroom, done in white porcelain. It also had a desk she'd spent much of her time at, reading and taken notes on her school books.

She'd read _Magical Theory _first, in hope it would make the rest of the books make sense, and she'd been fascinated by some of the concepts. She'd also read a _History of Magic _to help with the background knowledge that she was missing, having not grown up in this society. Surprisingly (or not so surprisingly considering what Lilith and Damien had said) Elves were rarely mentioned, although occasionally vampires and werewolves came up. Mostly the book focused on wizards. Those books and their accompanying notes had taken most of the first day, while she'd spent the second on _The Standard Guide to Spells: Grade 1 _and by _A Beginners' Guide to Transfiguration_. Of the two, she'd found Transfiguration the more interesting subject. While the book hadn't had the explanation on how to do it, it had said that you could change animate objects and make them inanimate and do the same in reverse. She'd wanted to try the first spell, but hadn't been able to find a matchstick to attempt to change into a needle. She'd had more luck attempting some of the basic charms, such as _Reparo_ and _Alohamora._

Now she was standing outside a plain wooden door with six inset panels. The handle was slivery, although she wasn't sure if it was real, and it looked fairly daunting.

"What are you waiting for?" Hermione started at the sudden voice. She turned around and looked at her sister.

"Hello, Lilith." She greeted her with a smile. She raised her eyebrow. This was the first time Lilith had appeared to her in three days, and her appearance was drastically different. Whereas she had formally been dressed in the same long robes as the witches and wizards when they met, she now was wearing a pair of black cargo pants and a sleeveless mandarin style top in dark green.

"Hermione," Lilith nodded at her. "Let's go in, Grandmother does not like to be kept waiting." Lilith smiled and then opened the door, allowing Hermione to enter the room first. With a small smile in return, Hermione entered.

The room she hadn't wanted to enter looked harmless enough. It was a parlor done in lavender and cream, with light wood furniture and a white marble fireplace. Two chairs, a sofa, and a loveseat surrounded a low table placed in front of the fireplace, while a writing desk sat under the window. A second set of chairs sat under another window, with a small table between them.

Agatha Nirnevar, the Lady Iscarta, sat in the throne-like chair closest to the fireplace. She had gray hair that had been plaited then pinned in a bun upon her head and was dressed in a pair of black slacks and a light blue blouse that matched her eyes.

"Good day, Hermione, Lilith. Take a seat." The woman said. Hermione did as she was told, taking a seat on the couch across from her. Lilith took a seat in the other chair.

"After talking with the Elders and going over the House of Nirnevar's Code of Conduct and Laws, we've made a descision. Hermione, you will be taking over as the Heiress of the Ancient and Noble House of Nirnevar. You're young enough to learn what is necessary to lead the clan."

Hermione took a deep breath.

"Ma'am, what exactly does that mean? And isn't that Lilith's position?" Hermione asked.

"It means that when you turn seventeen you'll take control of the family estate and you'll get the rights to expel and induct clan members, along with other things. You'll gain a hereditary position on the Councilium, which will allow you to vote on important issues. You'll learn the other things in time. Ilyana will give you a crash course over the next month in what you need to know and Lilith will educate you while you are at Hogwarts. It is a small ceremony, we can do it soon, and we'll have a dinner party before the two of you leave for Hogwarts so that you can be introduced to the rest of the clan. The position of Heiress goes to the eldest female child of the direct line. That was believed to be Lilith until she had Gringotts confirm your identity as her older sister, making you the Heiress." Her grandmother replied. Hermione frowned. The argument made sense, but it didn't seem very fair.

"Isn't that unfair to Lilith though, seeing as she's spent so much of her time learning the position?" Hermione asked.

"I know my duty, Hermione. That, above everything I've learned, is paramount. Previously, my duty has been to learn how to be heiress. Now, it is to help you become the heiress. I will do as the clan requires of me." Lilith told her, taking the answer upon herself. Hermione looked at her younger sister (it seemed strange to think of the other girl as both younger and her sister, the other girl was very mature). She looked composed, unfazed at the news and calm, as if she was discussing what to have for lunch.

"You'll see. Ilyana will make sure you get the most important lessons down before Hogwarts, and Lilith will be there to help you, she knows most of her lessons well enough that teaching them to you should not be a problem, will it Lilith?" Their grandmother said, at first sounding strict but kind, then harsher when she directed the last bit at Lilith. Hermione also watched her, noticing that her eyes had narrowed in distain.

"Of course not," Lilith said, sounding slightly offended. "May I be dismissed then, Grandmother?"

"Take Hermione to your usual classroom. The rest of the day is your own."

"Come, Hermione." Lilith rose, and Hermione stood as well. Hermione watched as Lilith executed a bow, and then turned to leave without another word.

"Goodbye." Hermione said and followed Lilith outside the room.

Lilith closed the door and began walking down the hallway, the clicking of her boots sounding harsh against the floor. Hermione rushed to catch up.

"Lilith, what is the Councilium?" Hermione decided to ask, avoiding the topic she would prefer to ask; what the jibe against Lilith had been about.

"It is the main governing body for our world. While the entire set up is called the Imperium, the Councilium creates the laws and judges criminals. It is lead by the Praeses. If what I have been told is correct, then the closest comparisons to the muggle world would be the Councilium to your Parliament and the Praeses to your Prime Minister. The Wizarding world also has a similar government. They have the Ministry of Magic, headed by the Minister of Magic, with the main governing body being known as the Wizengamot." Lilith said, taking a right, then ducking into a stairwell and leading them up a flight of stairs. They walked back down the hallway and took a left, ending up at another door, much like the one that if Hermione was correct, was right below them. She thought about what Lilith had said. The part about the Wizarding government had been in _A History of Magic_, but the comparisons helped.

"This is the classroom, and if you were wondering it is directly above the parlor we were just in. Ilyana should be here already. I've got some things to see to, but I'll probably see you at dinner. Hermione watched as Lilith strode away without another word, taking a left at the corner.

Hermione looked at the door and turned the handle. The sooner she started, the sooner this would begin to make sense.

* * *

I'm sorry this chapter is so short, but there isn't much else to say from Hermione's view point, and I don't have as good a grip on her character as I'd like to yet. Next chapter is Damien, and we'll get to see what he and Harry are up to. Oh, and can you please review? The more reviews I get the more I know what to change, and what to fix.


	7. Part of the Tale

Disclaimer: I'm not British, which means that I'm not J.K. Rowling, which means that I'm not the owner of Harry Potter, who somehow managed to pick from amongst the worst possible parings for her main characters.

Thanks to shadowwalker2 for being the only person to review the last chapter.

I've had 6,542 views on this story (squeal, that's good for me!) but only 21 reviews (which, I'll admit is still great), which means that only 1 in 312 viewers is actually reviewing. I need the commentary. Ideas for what you want to see happen, critiques on how I'm writing, mistakes I make, continuity errors, anything really. Reviews are the impetus for writing. You can thank shadowwalker2 for this being finished. I apologize for begging, but I have no beta and no friends whom I can ask to critique this.

AN 2 (8/8/11): Thanks to Anime Princess for her review, it made me realize I conveyed Damien's emotions in this chapter incorrectly, although she read them properly as I'd written them. I hope this fixes it to make him seem a bit less irritated. He's really just a bit exasperated at all the questions. I'll try to focus in on Harry and Hermione once they go to Hogwarts and are on a more even footing with Lilith and Damien. To everyone else who reviewed, look for a mention in the next chapter.

Edited 8/8/11

Three days after the informative Diagon Alley trip, Damien walked into his bedroom after his morning run. He took a quick shower in the adjacent bathroom then walked back in. He took a moment to examine the room he spent so little time in.

The walls of the room were two colored; the northern and southern walls were golden yellow, the eastern and western were vertically striped in the same yellow, and cream. The north wall had two large windows facing the Forest of Arwen, along with his desk, which like all the furniture in his room, was a pale wood. He'd just exited the bathroom, the door to which was on the western wall, along with his bookcases. The southern wall had the door to the hallway, along with the rack of weaponry he'd collected over the years, and pictures of himself, his family and his friends, left from the last time he'd been here. His bed was on the eastern wall, with cream sheets and pillows, and a dark gold comforter. Also on the eastern wall was the door to his closet, and a bedside table.

Damien walked across the room to his closet and opened it. He dressed in a pair of black loose pants, a gray t-shirt, and black sneakers, before walking over to his desk and sitting in the chair.

Pulling out writing materials – quill, ink, parchment, wax, and string – he began to compose a letter.

**Dear Lilith,**

**My grandmother found my mother's journal yesterday, so she explained to us what happened around the time we were born, at least what she knew of it, and I learned more from reading the journal. Harry has it now, but I'll pass it on to you once he's done. Most of it involves your mother; apparently they were extremely close from a young age.**

**Our mothers met at one of the various functions in the elven world, and as they were both Secui elves, they both attended Hogwarts. My mother, Rebekah, was a Ravenclaw while your mother, Aria, was a Slytherin. During their school years, they became friends with Lily Evans, Sirius Black, James Potter, Remus Lupin, Peter Pettigrew and Severus Snape.**

**Lily, Sirius, and James were in Gryffindor, while Severus was a Slytherin. Lily and Severus were friends, although there is extreme enmity between the two houses. James and Sirius were best friends along with Remus and Peter, and James apparently sought after Lily for most of their Hogwarts years. James and Sirius also apparently had a long rivalry against Severus that could get fairly nasty at times. Our mothers knew Lily and Severus because of study groups and competing for the top spot, grade wise. They also had electives together after third year, and became close friends because of similar interests.**

**In fifth year, Severus and Lily began dating, while my own mother began dating James Potter sometime in their sixth year, the journal entries began to be spotty around this time. Your own mother stayed mostly single, a few boyfriends, but nothing too serious. All eight of them had become friends by this time, and James stopped perusing Lily, except occasionally in jest.**

**My mother's journal only goes through her Hogwarts years, so what I know of what happens afterward is what my grandmother told Harry and I, so take it with a grain of salt, it may not be completely true.**

**Lord Voldemort, a dark wizard, began gathering power and followers around 1970. His closest followers were known as the Death Eaters, and during the 70s, they committed increasingly violent acts against muggles and light wizards who dared to oppose them. He also, somehow, convinced the giants to help him. People stopped trusting strange witches and wizards, because no one knew who supported Voldemort. Hogwarts was one of the last bastions of light and one of the few safe places in the Wizarding world. The Ministry of Magic was fighting, but they weren't doing well, even with lethal tactics being authorized for the Aurors. It was getting so bad that the Councilium was talking about stepping in to help the Ministry.**

**My mother was still dating James Potter when they graduated from Hogwarts in 1978, but Lily Evans and Severus Snape had broken off their relationship. **

**James Potter and my mother broke off their relationship in late 1978 when he admitted to still being attracted to Lily Evans. After a short courtship, James married Lily in June of 1979. A few months later, Lily was hit by a curse that made her infertile. James approached my mother for help conceiving an heir for his family and she agreed. Harry and I were conceived in late November/early December of 1979, and my mother gave birth to us on July 31st, 1980.**

**They didn't expect to give birth to twins, let alone twin boys, but they found a way to make things work to their advantage. Harry was given to James and Lily Potter because he was eldest, and was made heir to the Potter family. I was made the heir to the Numain family, so each of us inherits from one parent. My mother kept me with her in England, but she stayed away from James Potter and the fighting. James and Lily took Harry and eventually had to go into hiding because Voldemort was targeting them. The Potters were killed on Samhain of 1981, but Harry survived being hit with a killing curse. He was then placed with Lily Potter's muggle relations. My mother didn't learn about what happened until after he was placed with them, and due to wards and spells placed around him, she couldn't locate him. My grandmother removed them yesterday after we arrived.**

**I asked my grandmother if she knew anything about what happened to your mother after they graduated, but she didn't know very much. Your mother apparently kept a very quiet life, choosing to keep her personal life as private as possible. While my Grandmother recalls meeting your sister twice and you once, that was without your father present, and she isn't sure who your father is. She did promise to tell you as many stories about her as she could remember whenever we have the time.**

**I hope this helps you start the timeline you mentioned in your last letter, and when Harry's done I'll send you the journal so you can get the exact dates.**

**Otherwise, did your grandmother and the elders decide on what they're doing about the heiress position?**

**Oh and the answer to your question is loyalty. My question is "If you could have any animagus form, what would you choose to be?" Pick both magical and mundane. I know magical animagi are said to be rare, but pick one anyway. Some dreams don't hurt to think about. I think I'd like to be a Gray Wolf or either a Liondragon or a Hungarian Horntail.**

**Oh and Lil? Make sure you do something besides studying and looking for clues about our pasts. You don't want to burn out before school starts and you have a sister to get to know. Make sure you spend some time with her. Talk about whatever it is that makes you females shut up or giggle whenever a guy gets close enough to hear.**

**Salveo,  
Damien**

Damien finished his letter to Lilith and used his wand to dry the ink. He rolled the letter, and then used a charm on his desk to melt a ball of wax. He stuck it on the seam and used his ring to imprint his personal seal. Another quick charm solidified the wax. Picking up the missive and the string, he exited his bedroom and walked across the hall.

"Harry," he called out, knocking on the door.

"Come in," Harry replied, and Damien peeked his head into the room, finding Harry stretched across the bed reading their mother's journal.

"I'm going up to the owlery, do you want to come?"

"Sure," Harry got off the bed, leaving his book on the bedside table and sliding his feet into a pair of brand new sneakers. Their grandmother had decided to take them on a giant shopping spree in all three worlds, to get them new muggle, wizarding, and elven dress. Harry now had an entire wardrobe, and Damien had gotten a few things for himself as well, especially in the elven shops; they hadn't visited Alyria in years. Seeing who his new friends (and their guardians) were, they'd probably be there quite a bit more often.

"So, what do you think of the journal so far?" Damien asked Harry after they'd been walking for a minute.

"It's great. I get to learn about my parents, and Hogwarts." Harry told Damien, and Damien knew what he meant. In the absence of having his mother back, having her journal was the next best thing.

"And we know how we're sorted into houses now, which helps." Damien smiled.

"Yeah. About that, what house do you believe you'll be in?" Harry asked and Damien thought for a moment.

"I'm not sure, really. I'd like to think I've got a fairly even scope of the houses traits. What house do you believe you'll be in?"

"I'm not sure either. I think I'd like to be in Gryffindor like Father, I don't think I like books and knowledge quite enough for Ravenclaw." Harry said, wistfully.

"I agree, I like books, but I don't value knowledge above all." Damien replied, agreeing. They reached the owlery, where the owls for the clan lived. Two were snowy owls, two were eagle owls, and one was his personal owl, a pure black owl named Tenebrae.

"Hey girl," he said, stroking her feathers. She hooted and he used a piece of string to tie the letter to her leg.

"Can you take this to Lilith for me?" He asked, and the owl took off, flying through the open windows.

"You've been corresponding with her quite a bit, haven't you." Harry said, looking at Damien. Damien looked back and nodded. He turned and walked out the door. Harry followed him.

"'We've been trading information. She's well versed in the Elven world, and a more theoretical side of the wizarding world, but I know more of the practical information, as well as the muggle world. She's putting together a comparison chart of the three." Damien said. He left out the rest of the information they'd passed.

"That should be useful. Has Hermione been helping her?" Harry asked.

"I don't think so." Damien replied.

"Why? Wasn't Hermione raised by muggles?" Harry continued to inquire and Damien resisted sighing. It was a pet peeve of his to be asked a series of questions he didn't know the answer to.

"I'm not sure. Why don't you use one of the other owls to send a letter to Hermione?" Damien suggested.

"May I?" Harry looked at him earnestly.

"Of course. This is your home now Harry, you do not have to ask." Damien said, and upon reaching the corridor with their rooms, turned to Harry. "Write Hermione a letter, and use the quill, ink and parchment to do so. I know it'll be unfamiliar to you, and likely not very legible, but you should try it. As long as she can read it you'll be fine. Tell me when you finish and I'll teach you the charm for drying ink."

"Okay, but… what am I supposed to say to her?" Harry asked and Damien rolled his eyes at his brother's cluelessness.

"Anything you want to. Ask her how she's doing with the transfer from Muggle to Elven, and the differences." Damien replied.

"Alright. Thanks Damien." Harry responded with a quick smile, before walking into his room.

"You're welcome." Damien replied smiling as Harry closed the door. For all that Harry was older he seemed to have little experience with social interaction, and acted like he didn't expect to be treated well.

Damien walked into his own bedroom and grabbed his defense textbook off of the bedside table. Kicking off his shoes and sprawling across the bed, he opened _Dark Forces: A Guide to Self Protection_ to Chapter 6 and began reading. The sooner he learned this book and everything it could teach him, the better.


End file.
